How much can I earn in Ireland during Study Abroad?

Main points of the article

• The current minimum wage in Ireland is €11.30 per hour
• You will most likely start with a job that pays close to the minimum wage.
• Students on a Study Visa are entitled to work 20 hours per week during term time and 40 hours per week during holidays.
• Your employer will deduct required amount of income tax and other charges from your salary
• It is very likely you will pay very little or no tax because your available tax credits will cover it.

Minimum wage

In Ireland, the minimum wage is set by law and is designed to ensure that workers receive a fair compensation for their work. In Ireland, it is common to present salaries in terms of hourly rates. The current minimum wage in Ireland is €11.30 per hour. Some people (for example peopled aged under 20) may receive a sub-minimum rate.

The Irish minimum rate is one of the highest minimum salaries in Europe and, indeed, the world.

Work during Study Abroad

There are some typical jobs that you may end up doing during Study Abroad. These jobs include:

• Cleaner
• Kitchen porter
• Deli staff
• Bar staff

In general these are jobs that don't require any specific qualifications and don't require a high level of English.

There are of course other opportunities and depending on your skills and level of English you may get a better job in terms of pay and prospects. For most people, however, the above jobs will be the starting point in Ireland.

In typical jobs that you can expect to do during your Study Abroad you are very likely to get paid weekly.

How much can I work during study abroad?

A full-time employee works about 40 hours per week in Ireland.

Non-EU Students on a 'Work and Study' visa are only entitled to work 20 hours per week during the study term and 40 hours per week during holidays.

Taxes and charges that affect the net pay

Gross wage is very easy to calculate. You simply need to multiple your hourly rate by the number of hours you worked in a given week.

When you are employed in Ireland, you need to pay income tax and some additional charges. All employed people are entitled to tax credits which decrease the amount of tax you are required to pay.

Your personal circumstances will affect the amount of deductions from your gross salary. Most importantly, whether you are married and whether you have children.

Your employer will calculate your net pay and provide details of all the charges and credits on a payslip (either printed on in electronic format). On a positive note, part-time workers who are earning close to minimum wage will not pay a lot in tax amount of tax (unless they are on emergency tax - follow the link to learn how to avoid it).

A worked example of how much you will earn

Let's say are coming to Ireland from a non-EU country to study English on a Work and Study visa.

You start working almost immediately after arrival in a job that pays minimum wage.

During term time (6 months or 25 weeks) you can work 20h per week giving you €11.30 x 20h x 25 weeks = €5,650.

During holiday period (8 weeks) you can work 40h per week giving you €11.30 x 40h x 8 weeks = €3,616.

Combined this gives us a a Gross Salary of €9,266. Great news, this amount will not incur any deductions as available credits (€3,550) more than covers the 20% tax rate (€9,266 x 20% = €1,853).